The night before the promotion

Chapter 34: Rage Rekindled
In the crowded carriage, it was not easy to walk to Pei Dong's side.

Zhou Si squeezed through the crowd while whispering his apologies, and at the same time, he vigilantly observed the passengers around him.

Perhaps, the members of the Paradise were hiding among them, waiting for the moment when Zhou Si let his guard down and then injecting an anesthetic into his neck.

But given the mysterious style of Fuletu, Zhou Si didn't think they would appear around him in the form of human entities. Instead of caring about these passengers, Zhou Si should be more careful about those potential incarnation killers.

Zhou Si was very curious about how they would appear and what kind of incarnation bodies they would use.

But compared with these, Pei Dong is more important at the moment.

“How wonderful…”

As he squeezed through the crowd, Zhou Si's mind inexplicably arose a series of memories.

He recalled his first meeting with Pei Dong. At that time, he was standing alone in the dense forest, feeling terrified. It was Pei Dong who saved him.

Now, the roles are reversed, and Zhou Si has traveled a long way to save the confused and painful Pei Dong.

only……

But Zhou Si had a strange premonition that it was the first time they met, and this time, it might be their final farewell.

"Pei Dong."

Zhou Si called Pei Dong's name softly. Pei Dong turned her head slowly. Her expression was very cold. After seeing Zhou Si, she forced a smile at the corner of her mouth, as if she had expected Zhou Si's arrival.

I carefully looked around Pei Dong. She was the only one there, sitting in a wheelchair. There were no suspicious people nearby, and no incarnation body.

Zhou Si was a little confused about what the other party was going to do.

"Pei Dong, don't be nervous. I will take you away from here when we get to the next platform."

Zhou Si walked behind Pei Dong and held the handle of the wheelchair.

He would not, like in the clichéd scenes in the movies, ask Pei Dong how he was doing or whether the other party had hurt him.

Zhou Si has always been an efficient person, not to mention under the influence of drugs. At this moment, Zhou Si's mind has never been clearer. He has no personal emotions, only pure goals.

"We can't leave here."

Pei Dong sniffed hard a few times and pointed under the wheelchair with a calm expression, "They placed a bomb under the wheelchair. Once I leave, it will explode."

Zhou Si frowned and commented with disgust, "Bomb hostages, this plot is even more cliché."

He did not panic because of the appearance of the bomb. On the contrary, when Zhou Si saw that a seat was empty, he pushed Pei Dong to the seat and sat down himself.

Pei Dong saw Zhou Si so calm and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid?"

"You and I are both qualified for the Feathering Technology. If they still want to develop Feathering Technology, they won't use such a bomb to send you and me into the sky."

Zhou Si was so rational that he was almost cold. He looked at Pei Dong as if he had seen through her mask of disguise.

"Likewise, you acted very calmly, Pei Dong. That's not at all what a kidnapped person would look like, let alone someone sitting on a bomb."

He added, “Stockholm syndrome? I don’t think you, with all your spiritual training, would have this kind of subtle feeling about Elysium.”

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Si accepted this fact very calmly, "So, did you still reach some kind of deal with them?"

The plot doesn't seem so clichéd anymore. This isn't a bomb hostage, but a former friend who became an enemy and dragged himself into a trap.

Amid the bustling crowd, the two were so calm and restrained, forcing those pervasive emotions into the abyss of their hearts.

Pei Dong lowered his head, a pale smile appeared on his face, and then he became helpless and bitter.

"You are really sharp, Zhou Si. Has anyone ever told you that you are suitable to be a detective?"

"To be honest, my daily work is not much different from that of a detective. The most I do is practice medicine."

After realizing that this was a trap, Zhou Si remained calm. It was not the drugs that affected him, but he had considered this possibility on the way here.

Until the facts become absolute, any changes are possible.

Ms. Nguyen’s teachings are really impressive.

Pei Dong was like a child who had made a mistake, "Did I disappoint you?"

"No," Zhou Si shook his head, "It's just something that was expected."

He analyzed, like a bystander, an audience member standing under the stage, "The disease of consciousness and the paralysis of the body have tortured you to pieces, and the appearance of the land of bliss has given you a chance to be liberated."

Zhou Si said with a somewhat sympathetic tone, "I'm not disappointed. If I have to say, it's probably human nature."

"It's like a good tragedy. Everyone has their own legitimate reasons. Everyone thinks they are just and well-intentioned. But all this does not create a better tomorrow. Instead, it plunges everything into endless darkness."

Pei Dong's tone became sad, "I'm sorry, I broke my promise."

"It's ok."

Zhou Si looked at the scenery outside the window that was gradually slowing down. The light rail was slowly slowing down and arrived at the next platform. People were coming and going in the carriage. When the light rail moved again, it was obvious that there were fewer people in the carriage.

The light rail train was heading towards its terminus on the edge of the city.

"They want you to hold me here, don't they?"

Zhou Si looked up at the platform table on top of the door, "I guess those assassins are waiting for me at the terminal."

"If I show any signs of leaving the car, they will detonate the bomb... But I won't wait to die here, and they don't really intend to kill me, so this bomb will only kill you. What they want to do is to use your death to kidnap me and bet that I will not give up on you."

Zhou Si liked the feeling of having a clear mind. Almost in an instant, he figured out everything.
He joked nonchalantly, "Is this considered moral kidnapping?"

"I originally hoped that you would give up and not come, so that you would be safe," Pei Dong still lowered his head and sobbed softly, "but when I thought that you would not come, I felt very sad, as if I had been abandoned."

Pei Dong hated himself, "It's ridiculous, it's hypocritical."

"Don't make this meaningless confession, Pei Dong," Zhou Si's eyes turned cold, "What did you trade with them?"

Pei Dong raised her head with difficulty, her eyes were red and tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes. Zhou Si tried to avoid her gaze so as not to be touched.

"Just as you guessed, consciousness has been upgraded," Pei Dong said in a hoarse voice, "and this is not a transaction, but a cooperation."

Zhou Si scolded, "You are willing to serve them? You are crazy, are you..."

"I have no other choice, Zhou Si."

Pei Dong interrupted Zhou Si, his eyes drooped, his emotions seemed to have fallen into a bottomless abyss, with no light in sight.

"I'm sorry... Zhou Si, I'm really sorry, but... but this is all I can do."

The dripping tears fell and shattered into pieces on the ground.

"They found me and I rejected them at first, but they connected me to a virtual world, where I regained my freedom."

Pei Dong looked up at Zhou Si, her eyes trembling and tears streaming down her face.

"If I could have held on to my original intention before, but when I stood up again in the virtual world, ran freely, and felt the so-called freedom again... my desires broke through the dam of reason, and I could no longer restrain my heart."

She raised the only arm that could move and grabbed Zhou Si's hand. Zhou Si felt waves of warmth and strong vitality from this skinny and withered arm, which was completely different from Pei Dong's previous lifeless feeling.

The paradise aroused Pei Dong's desire, the desire to survive, making her full of vitality again, like the green grass growing in the cracks of concrete.

"I am really in pain, Zhou Si."

Pei Dong looked into Zhou Si's eyes and said sincerely, "Every day when I wake up, I will look at myself from the perspective of my incarnation."

"I was like an indifferent bystander, watching my body shrink and decay bit by bit, like a slowly decaying corpse. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop my body from collapsing."

Pei Dong asked pleadingly, "Can you understand how I feel? If it's a momentary death, I can accept it calmly, but when this kind of death becomes slow and is infinitely prolonged... it's too terrible, it's simply a torture."

Her eyes gradually lost focus and her voice became lower and lower, as if she was talking to herself.

"You know what? Sometimes, I really envy those who can grow old peacefully. They may also be afraid of death, but at least their process is natural and complete. And I..."

Her voice was choked with sobs. "And I can only watch myself die little by little in this long suffering. Every breath and every heartbeat reminds me that my life is slipping away. This feeling is deeper and more desperate than any pain."

The light rail slowed down again and stopped at the platform. The carriage was crowded with people, but there were fewer people.

Zhou Si looked at Pei Dong with mixed feelings. She had become his enemy, but he couldn't hate her. Not only were past memories and emotions affecting Zhou Si, but he could also understand Pei Dong's situation.

He couldn't imagine whether he would have a better choice if he were Pei Dong.

Pei Dong wiped away her tears and tried to put on a relieved smile. She said, "Zhou Si, please get off at the next stop."

"You're going to die."

Pei Dong did not respond, but looked out the window. The setting sun was gradually disappearing, and the darkness was gradually covering the entire city.

Over the years, Pei Dong has been locking herself in that small house, relying on her avatar body to walk around the world. She has almost forgotten when was the last time she felt the world with her human body. Now, when she peeks at this city with her naked eyes, she has an inexplicable sense of familiarity and strangeness.

"It's okay," Pei Dong shook his head. "After venting my emotions with you, I feel much better. It seems that life and death are not that important anymore."

"Leave now before I have any desire to survive."

Zhou Si sighed, "What a contradiction."

Pei Dong said softly, "Perhaps humans are such creatures."

Zhou Si looked at the station timetable again. There was still one stop to the terminal. The next stop would be Zhou Si’s last chance to leave.

He was silent for a long time. People in the carriage were whispering. They came from all walks of life and were going to all corners of the world.

We met each other and never saw each other again in eternity.

Zhou Si sighed deeply and said, "My rational thinking tells me that I should leave at the next stop to avoid danger, but my human emotions prevent me from just watching you die."

He said in an inaudible voice, "Besides, if you die, we won't be able to find them."

Zhou Si sorted out his feelings and encouraged Pei Dong, "Pei Dong, pursue your wish. Whether the result is freedom or burning out, at least you can give yourself an explanation."

He continued, "Maybe I can defeat those incarnation killers? Then I can follow your footsteps, find the Elysium, and kill them all." Pei Dong looked at Zhou Si in surprise, and she asked back, "What if you lose?"

"Lost?"

Zhou Si glanced at his right hand and stroked his chest. "I said, if I lose, it's also part of the plan. Do you believe it?"

From the moment he stepped onto the carriage, Zhou Si had already made all the plans. Even if he fell into the hands of the incarnated killers, Zhou Si still had a backup plan.

Zhou Si is not alone.

After the overpass was attacked, Li Weiyu implanted a locator in Zhou Si. The small chip was buried in Zhou Si’s right arm and grew together with his flesh and blood.

At the same time, the artificial organs in Zhou Si's body are also filled with Shenwei Technology's tracking devices. Once his body issues a warning again, Ruan Linrui will discover it at the first time.

As the core figure of this storm, Zhou Si is always under the watchful eyes of the Supervisory Bureau and Shenwei Technology. Once the Paradise of Elysium captures him, things become simpler.

Therefore, Zhou Si edited a scheduled email before getting on the bus. If Zhou Si failed to solve the problem after thirty minutes, Li Weiyu would take over everything.

Zhou Si fell silent, and Pei Dong also said nothing. Neither of them knew what the other was thinking, and they just sat there quietly.

Soon, the light rail slowed down and stopped. When it started again, there were only a few people left in the car. It was at this time that Zhou Si lost his last chance of escape.

Pei Dong said faintly, "Zhou Si, I'm actually very scared."

"afraid of what?"

"Accept the upgrade and ascend to heaven."

Pei Dong was full of doubts and uneasiness about the unknown. "If I fail, I might die, but if I succeed... I don't know what will happen after that. Can you talk to me?"

Zhou Si joked, "It sounds like I'm doing hospice care for you."

Pei Dong smiled with teeth showing, "It doesn't matter, we don't have much time, and this may be the last time we talk."

An inexplicable sadness lingered between the two of them. Zhou Si looked out the window. The densely packed buildings had already lit up their lights, like dense clusters of stars in the dark night.

He unexpectedly recalled his first meeting with Pei Dong, camping under the starry sky.

"I have discussed this with Chen Wen-Ge."

Zhou Si spoke a little too fast, as he didn't have much time left. When the light rail reached the terminal, swords and knives would tear everything in sight into pieces.

"In the final analysis, the most significant change of consciousness upgrading is that we abandon the physical body. So after losing the physical body, humans... no, at this time we should not be regarded as natural people, but upgraded consciousness. So what changes will we have as upgraded consciousness?"

He sorted out the sentences, "First, we will lose the hormones secreted by our organs, and hormones are important factors that affect our emotions, psychology, logic, etc.

Without male hormones and female hormones, and without the reproductive instinct engraved in our genes, we will lose our sexual desire, and the concept of sexual desire will disappear for us.

Likewise, without dopamine, endorphins, we would no longer feel happy.”

Zhou Si confirmed his guess, "Yes, Chen Wen Ge and I guessed that the upgraded consciousness itself does not have and does not need emotions, and it is not even appropriate to describe it as rational. It should be said that efficiency and advantages and disadvantages are just like a machine."

Pei Dong listened carefully and tried hard to imagine that kind of life form and way of thinking.

"And then..."

Zhou Si suddenly asked back, "Pei Dong, do you think you live in a real world?"

Pei Dong looked down at her sick arm, feeling the pain and fatigue in her body. It felt terrible, but she still nodded vigorously.

"I am living in the real world, in real flesh."

Zhou Si rejected it, "No, you don't live in the real world. No one lives in the real world."

“You know Plato’s cave?
A group of prisoners are trapped in a cave. They have been chained since childhood and cannot look back. They can only see the back wall of the cave.

Behind them, there was a fire burning, and between the fire and the prisoners, people were walking back and forth, holding various objects in their hands. Due to the obstruction of these objects, the shadows of the fire were projected onto the back wall of the cave, forming various images.

These prisoners have only seen these images since childhood, so they believe these images are real things.”

Zhou Si's voice became empty and ethereal, as if he was expounding a truth that had been buried by the world.

“Humans use their senses to observe the world, but we must know that there are many things in this world that we cannot feel. We are like the people in Plato’s cave, who can only imagine the outside world through the silhouette of the campfire.”

Zhou Si suddenly approached Pei Dong. Their faces were so close that he could clearly see the bloodshot in each other's pupils, the fine pores, and the faint hairs.

"Look at you, look at me, we can see each other simply because our visual ability can observe these spectra, and the range of such visible spectrum is only roughly between 380 nanometers and 780 nanometers.

But outside the visible spectrum, there are many electromagnetic spectra that we cannot see, including infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, alpha rays, beta rays, gamma rays, cosmic rays and so on.

What do you think the universe looks like? The gorgeous Pillars of Creation, the magnificent Sloan Great Wall?
The space images taken by NASA are all processed with special filters and color mapping technology. Different types of electromagnetic waves are given different colors in the photos in order to more intuitively show the various features and structures in the universe. That's why the universe is so magnificent. But in fact, all we can see with our naked eyes is sporadic points of light and infinite darkness.

Not to mention that we humans cannot hear infrasound or ultrasound. As for touch, the smallest protrusion pattern that a finger can sense is only about 13 nanometers on the surface. "

Zhou Si stopped his passionate speech. He seemed much more tired and his voice became softer.

"In the final analysis, these so-called senses are all external stimuli converted into electrical signals, which are then processed by the brain. When you become an upgraded consciousness, you can take over all the devices in the world and make them part of your senses. You can even directly control the Webb telescope and see the appearance of a black hole with your own eyes."

Zhou Si expounded the truth, "Pei Dong, we have never lived in the real world, we only live in the world that we 'feel'."

"Now, do you still think that the human body and brain are perfect creations of nature?" Zhou Si said disdainfully, "It's just a simple shell."

The light rail slowly stopped, and the noise of the wind beside his ears gradually died down. Zhou Si sat calmly in his seat, watching the passengers leave the car.

No new passengers got on the train, and only Zhou Si and Pei Dong were left in the entire carriage, as if they had been exiled to some alternate dimension.

Zhou Si said softly, "We've arrived."

"Sorry, Zhou Si."

Pei Dong said it again, and then she stood up awkwardly and slowly in front of Zhou Si.

Zhou Si watched this scene in astonishment. Pei Dong smiled sadly, raised his stiff arms, and unbuttoned his clothes bit by bit.

She lifted up her loose coat, revealing she was wearing nothing underneath.

Zhou Si once imagined Pei Dong's body. He guessed that it must be full of vitality and fitness, not the graceful goddess in mythology, but those Valkyries holding spears and shields.

But now what was presented before Zhou Si's eyes was only the shriveled and ugly body, and the steel, transmission skeleton, cables, and buried pain pumps and urine bags embedded in the flesh and blood.

Under the forced operation of the machine, Pei Dong took a step forward, then bent down and hugged Zhou Si.

“It feels great to be back on my feet, even though every step is excruciatingly painful for me.”

Zhou Si stood up and carefully responded to Pei Dong's hug. His movements were very gentle, for fear of breaking the poor porcelain doll.

"Actually, sometimes I'm afraid of you."

Pei Dong whispered in Zhou Si's ear, "I still remember the first time I saw you. You were standing in the dark jungle, looking terrified, like a lost child. At that time, you were full of energy and emotions.

But when I saw you again in the clinic after so many years, the you in my memory disappeared, replaced by an emotional black hole.

It is empty and hollow. Even if you throw a stone into it, you won’t hear any echo.”

Zhou Si didn't say anything, just hugged Pei Dong.

Clunking footsteps sounded from outside the carriage, and humanoid avatars walked in one after another. They were not in a hurry to attack, but stood there quietly like spectators.

Pei Dong silently raised her head, kissed Zhou Si on the cheek, and let go of her hands. She left without looking back, staggering, and every step was filled with pain and joy.

Before the car door was completely closed, Zhou Si shouted as he looked at Pei Dong's gradually disappearing figure.

“May you reach the real world.”

The car door closed, and Zhou Si was not sure whether Pei Dong heard it.

The light rail gradually accelerated and rushed towards the terminal station at the other end of the line. This time it would not stop at any platform.

Zhou Si stood there in a daze, the scenery in front of him changed rapidly. Before the humanoid avatars started to move, Zhou Si finally reacted.

"You know what? When I was at Shenwei Technology, they all thought I was Chen Wen Ge's best student. My mind was as stable as a constant value. When necessary, I was even more mechanical than a machine, and I completely abandoned human emotions."

Zhou Si turned his head and looked at the humanoid avatars. They were the same model as the ones that attacked Zhou Si on the viaduct, and they had numbers painted on their heads. The difference was that this time they obviously had many more weapons and looked murderous.

"They felt that I had gone to a certain extreme mentally, and even said that at some point I was no longer human."

Zhou Si savored his own heart carefully. Although he had been injected with a lot of drugs, a flame was still flickering in his heart.

"This became even more extreme after the Immortal Falls incident. Oh my god, someone actually defeated the Lishi disease by himself! It's simply a medical miracle and a great victory for idealism.

So, they praise my inhumanity and fear my inhumanity, worship me and fear me.

They build a statue of a god and then push it down with all their might. "

Zhou Si pulled out a short axe from under his white coat, and the cold light of metal flashed in his eyes.

"At this point, even Pei Dong feels the same way, thinking that I have turned into some kind of inhuman monster."

Zhou Si strode towards the humanoid avatars. "But in fact, I still have strong personal emotions, but I am used to hiding them all deep in my heart, just like wearing heavy armor for myself."

Without any warning, the narrow blade was unsheathed, and the intersecting blade lights violently tore through the carriage, cutting the humanoid incarnation in front of him into large pieces.

The flame in my heart flickered and fell on the emotions that were smoldering silently.

Rise suddenly in an instant!

All the things that had been suppressed for a long time finally exploded at this moment, like a lava fire that suddenly broke out in a mine. The flames roared out from the abyss of nothingness and turned it into the scorching sun in the daytime.

"But let me tell you! At this moment!"

The howling wind penetrated into the carriage, overlapping with Zhou Si's angry roar, and countless iron filings flew.

Sparks flew from his teeth. "I am still angry!"

(End of this chapter)